Halkans appear to be slightly built albinos. Their eyes are pale grey (nearly white) Their hair color ranges from white to ash-pale blond. The Halkans are not true albinos, and their adaptations seem to be the result of natural adaptation to their bright M9 III star rather than deliberate engineering by the Ancients. As a people they were peaceful, and preferred a pastoral existence.

Halka was first settled by the Ancients around -300,000. Though no physical remains exist of their base, their presence is indicated by the existence of an albino human species. The Halkans are not true albinos, and their adaptations seem to be the result of natural adaptation to their bright M9 III star rather than deliberate engineering by the Ancients. As a people they were peaceful, and preferred a pastoral existence.

The Florians contacted the world in 211, and quickly subjugated the inhabitants. The original Barnai rulers took the simple lifestyle of their new subjects as a sign of inferiority, and employed them as slave labor. This practice continued for some time after the world was absorbed into the Florian League, and only ended after a public outcry in the 900s. Emancipation landed most Halkans into destitution, and most remained as tenant farmers for their former landlords.

Recidivist elements among the local nobility continued to exploit these people even after the League passed laws protecting them from offworld predation. Several of these elements were involved in a plot led by the local RGM of Vorkash Manufacturing in abducting the Halkans for servitude in the company mines on nearby Viceroy. The exposure of this operation led to a new and lasting crackdown on the slavers, and a full military garrison was stationed on-planet to prevent future incidents.

Halka remains a primarily agricultural world. The native population has slowly assimilated into the Florian mainstream, displacing a number of established Barnai landlords in the process. The world's population has been kept steady by emigration of the Florian population stemming from the slow transfer of land back to its original owners. Large scale immigration has been prevented by the continued uncertainty between the two groups, and by the difficulty of offworlders in adapting to the planets very long year.